So what'cha reading?

[MaraJade]

I just got a kindle so I'm reading a crapload of books at once. Btw, everyone should get a kindle. Still working on figuring out how to make it read manga, but yeah.

Most memorable read currently :Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

 

[Kenori]

Currently going through the Midnight campaign setting to see about running it with my roomates. Its pretty good. Its basically lord of the rings if Sauron had won.

 

[Lustful Butchery]

The Conqueror's Shadow by Ari Marmell.

So far, I'd been reading it on & off, whenever I have the feeling to read.

 

[KouAidou]

I'm reading The Tale of Genji, continuing my pattern of "things I read kind of half-assedly in college." It's much better just as a story than I remember. And it provides a whole lot of context for Japanese ideas of romance.

 

[Bolt]

I've been reading excerpts of the Tale of Genji for my World Literature class. It's some of the first traditional Japanese literature I've read other than short works by Matsuo Basho and Ryunosuke Akutagawa and so far I'm very intrigued by it. Classical Japanese authors tended to have a very beautiful, elegant-sounding grasp of language, even in translation.

As far as heavy reading, I've pretty much had to put the recreational stuff on hold in order to meet deadlines for my many reading-intensive classes this semester. At the moment I'm plodding through Love's Executioner by the renowned psychotherapist Irvin Yalom, which is pretty interesting if you're into psychoanalyzation at all, and I'll be following that up with more psychology/philosophy with Man's Search For Meaning and Kafka's The Trial.

 

[KouAidou]

Who did the translation in the Genji you're reading, Bolt? Mine's the Seidensticker, I may try to check out the Tyler later to compare.

Waley's prose is supposed to be very beautiful but laughably inaccurate.

 

[Bolt]

I'm reading the Seidensticker as well, from the Longman Anthology of World Literature. I really don't know anything about other translations of this particular work, but it does seem that translations of most Asian literature tend to either be pleasing to read or linguistically accurate but hardly ever both.

 

[KouAidou]

I'm reading the Seidensticker as well, from the Longman Anthology of World Literature. I really don't know anything about other translations of this particular work, but it does seem that translations of most Asian literature tend to either be pleasing to read or linguistically accurate but hardly ever both.

Yeah, that's definitely true. And both are valuable in their own ways. One of the main reasons I had a hard time reading Genji the first time is that I took Japanese Literature in my freshman year; there was just a lot about the story I wasn't able to comprehend with such scant knowledge of Japanese culture. Ten years later, I am much more comfortably versed in Japanese history, religion, clothing, festivals, geography, musical instruments, etc. It gives me a lot more patience to deal with the difficult writing style and more appreciation for the beauty of what is described. So I'm looking forward to the Tyler as well.

But basically, I can understand why a person would just want to read the Waley and get the gist of the story without all the headache. So I'm glad that translation is out there, too.

 

[Algo Fonix]

Anthem by Ayn Rand. I just picked it up yesterday and started reading on it this morning. I'm enjoying it. I'll probably pick up more of her stuff after I finish this one.

 

[Oedipus 3000]

I'm reading The Tale of Genji, continuing my pattern of "things I read kind of half-assedly in college." It's much better just as a story than I remember. And it provides a whole lot of context for Japanese ideas of romance.

I've tried reading that three times already and each time I just ended up reading conan . I was so thrilled when I first got it "oh boy! the first ever noval written!! I can't wait!!" and by mid-way I just wanted to get out the the book.

Anthem by Ayn Rand. I just picked it up yesterday and started reading on it this morning. I'm enjoying it. I'll probably pick up more of her stuff after I finish this one.

If you want to read Ayn Rand, you owe it to yourself to read Atlas Shrugged and Fountanhead. DO IT!! NOW!!!